Shared Resources

New Shared Resources Leaders

Sethu Pitchiaya, Ph.D., assistant professor of urology and pathology, recently joined the Rogel leadership team as the assistant director for Shared Resources. In this role, Dr. Pitchiaya will work under the guidance of Evan Keller, D.V.M, Ph.D., associate director for Shared Resources, to promote Rogel SRs and their services and to advance initiatives that further enhance the utility, value, innovation and impact of our SRs.

Menggang Yu, Ph.D., has joined the Cancer Data Science Shared Resource (CDS-SR) as assistant co-director for Population and Clinical Sciences. Dr. Yu previously served as the faculty director of the Biostatistics Shared Resouce for the Carbone Cancer Center at the University of Wisconsin Madison and was the director of the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core of the UW Head and Neck Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE). He is an expert in the areas of risk prediction, clinical biostatistics and treatment selection. In collaboration with CDS-SR director, Veera Baladandayuthapani, Ph.D., and assistant co-director for Bioinformatics and Laboratory Sciences, Gen Li, Ph.D., Dr. Yu will lead research initiatives in cancer biostatistics and develop biostatistical tools for population and clinical sciences.

Aaron Udager, MD, Ph.D., has joined as co-director of the Tissue and Molecular Pathology Shared Resource (TMP-SR). Dr. Udager is a fellowship-trained surgical pathologist with broad clinical expertise in diagnostic pathology and research expertise conducting molecular pathology studies. The TMP-SR leadership team also includes co-director, Steven Hrycaj, Ph.D., who leads the Histology and Immunohistochemistry Service.

Dr. Udager succeeds Thomas Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., who has been involved with the TMP-SR since 1996 and has served as director since 2002. We are deeply grateful to Dr. Giordano for his decades of service.

New recharge rates for CDS-SR

CDS-SR has adopted a recharge rate of $110 per hour for projects requiring less than 200 person hours. Projects requiring more than 200 hours will continue under the previously established effort-based model.

Supplemental funding for Discovery Award grantees toward use of CDS-SR

Additional funds, up to $10K, are available for Rogel Cancer Center Discovery Awardees who plan to use the CDS-SR. Investigators should consult with the SR to determine the level of support needed for the project and to receive the requisite Letter of Support to be submitted with the application. For more information on the current Discovery Award RFA and to submit an application, please visit the UMMS InfoReady website.

Informatics Technology for Cancer Research Training Network (ITN) workshop April 8 - 9 at NCRC

Rogel and the ITN are hosting a training event that focuses on the latest informatics tools and techniques while exploring these courses:

• Introduction to Reproducibility
• Intermediate and Advanced Reproducibility
• Analyzing Clinical Data
• Choosing Genomics Tools
• Spatial Transcriptomics

The workshop will conclude with an introduction to U-M resources by representatives from the CDS-SR and Single Cell Spatial Analysis Program.

The workshop is free of charge and lunch is provided. Register now for one or both days; space is limited to 40 attendees per day with some spaces reserved for external attendees. A limited number of travel awards are available by applying directly to the ITN. Travel scholarships are reserved for external attendees, which may include individuals from U-M campuses outside of Ann Arbor.

Transgenic animal models hosts educational series

The Transgenic Animal Model Shared Resource (TAM-SR) is hosting the Make Your Model Education Series. Join for a complimentary lunch and an opportunity to learn from Eden Dulka, microinjectionist and cryopreservation manager for the TAM-SR. Register to attend any, or all, of the following sessions:

• Identifying your model: Engineering what you need.
  Feb. 27 I Noon- 1 p.m.
• Making a mouse: How is your mouse technically created?
  Mar. 27 I Noon - 1 p.m.
• QC + genotyping: Validate what you made is what you think it is!
  Apr. 17 I Noon - 1 p.m.

Nick Lesniak, Ph.D..
Bioinformatician-Computational Biologist Senior

What is your area of expertise?
Microbiome, single cell RNA sequencing analysis, and multiplex imaging analysis.

What types of analyses do you run most frequently?
Identifying relationship between outcomes and phenotyped cell clusters.

What inspired you to pursue this career path?
I look to use my background in visual communication and bioinformatics to help scientists and physicians uncover and share the story of their data to advance our understanding and management of cancer.

What do you see as the most exciting developments in your field right now?
Spatial methods and throughput are improving our ability to elucidate the critical interactions occurring in tumor microenvironments.

What book or podcast would you most recommend to a colleague?
I would recommend Medical Apartheid. It is important to know the ways Black Americans have been mistreated by science so we can understand people's mistrust and do better to ensure we are not repeating past injustices.

If you have questions about Shared Resources services at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, please contact us for more information. Fill out our feedback form and help us improve our services!